which drove out parliament with contumely, two successive juries rescued the intripid_satirist * from his fangs, and sent out with defeat and disgrace the usurper's attorney general from what he had the insolence to call his court! Even then, gentlemen, when all law and liberty were trampled under the feet of a military banditti; when those great crimes were perpetrated on a high place and with a high hand against those who were the objects of publick veneration, which more than any thing else, break their spirits and confound their moral sentiments, obliterate the distinctions between right and wrong in their understanding, and teach the multitude to feel no longer any reverence for that justice which they thus see triumphantly dragged at the chariot wheels of a tyrant; even then, when this unhappy country, triumphant indeed abroad but enslaved at home, had no prospect but that of a long succession of tyrants wading through slaughter to a throne-even then, I say, when all seemed lost, the unconquerable spirit of English liberty survived in the hearts of English jurors. That spirit is, I trust in God, not extinct; and if any modern tyrant were, in the drunkenness of his insolence, to hope to overawe an English jury, I trust and I believe that they would tell him : "Our ancestors braved the bayonets of Cromwell; we bid defiance to yours. Contempsi Catalina gladios—non pertimes

cam tuos !"

What could be such a tyrant's means of overawing a jury? A slong as their country exists, they are girt round with impenetrable armour. Till the destruction of their country no danger can fall upon them for the performance of their duty, and I do trust that there is no Englishman so unworthy of life as to desire to outlive England. But if any of us are condemned to the cruel punishment of surviving our country-if in the inscrutable counsels of Providence, this favoured seat of justice and liberty, this noblest work of human wisdom and virtue, be destined to destruction, which I shall not be charged with national prejudice for

• Lilburne.

saying would be the most dangerous wound ever inflicted on civilisation; at least let us carry with us into our sad exile the consolation that we ourselves have not violated the rights of hospitality to exilesthat we have not torn from the altar the suppliant who claimed protection as the voluntary victim of loyalty and conscience!

Gentlemen, I now leave this unfortunate gentleman in your hands. His character and his situation might interest your humanity; but, on his behalf, I only ask justice from you. I only ask a favourable construction of what cannot be said to be more than ambiguous language, and this you will soon be told from the highest authority is a part of justice.

LORD CHATHAM'S SPEECH

IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, ON THE ADDRESS TO THE THRONE, AT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, ON THE 18TH OF NOẻ VEMBER, 1777.

THE title of the present speech sufficiently indi

cates the occasion on which it was delivered. Though made in the lingering season of decrepit age, and under the severest pangs of disease, it displays undimi nished, the excellences of Chatham's eloquence. It would, indeed, be difficult to find, in the whole range of parliamentary history, a more splendid blaze of genius at once rapid, vigorous, and exalted. This speech was among the last efforts of this distinguish ed statesman. Death, soon afterwards terminated his glorious career.

SPEECH, &c.

Í RISE, my lords, to declare my sentiments on this most solemn and serious subject. It has imposed a load upon my mind, which, I fear, nothing can remove; but which impels me to endeavour its alleviation, by a free and unreserved communication of my sentiments.

In the first part of the address, I have the honour of heartily concurring with the noble earl who moved it. No man feels sincerer joy than I do; none can offer more genuine congratulation on every acees

sion of strength to the protestant succession. I therefore join in every congratulation on the birth of another princess, and the happy recovery of her majesty. But I must stop here. My courtly complaisance will carry me no further. I will not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. I cannot concur in a blind and servile address, which approves, and endeavours to sanctify the monstrous measures which have heaped disgrace and misfortune upon us. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous moment! It is not a time for adulation. The smoothness of flattery cannot now avail; cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth. We must dispel the delusion and the darkness which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and true colours, the ruin that is brought to our doors.

This, my lords, is our duty. It is the proper function of this noble assembly, sitting, as we do, upon our honours in this house, the hereditary council of the crown. Who is the minister-where is the minister, that has dared to suggest to the throne the contrary, unconstitutional language this day delivered from it? The accustomed language from the throne has been application to parliament for advice, and a reliance on its constitutional advice and assistance. As it is the right of parliament to give, so it is the duty of the crown to ask it. But on this day, and in this extreme momentous exigency, no reliance is reposed on our constitutional counsels! no advice is asked from the sober and enlightened care of parliament! but the crown, from itself, and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue measures-and what measures, my lords? The measures that have produced the imminent perils that threaten us; the measures that have brought ruin to our doors..

Can the minister of the day now presume to expect a continuance of support, in this ruinous infatuation? Can parliament be so dead to its dignity and its duty, as to be thus deluded into the loss of